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31 May 2011

LilCrockett has been needing a new pair of tennis shoes, so I took him to Kohl’s after work since I had some Kohl’s cash and a coupon. He was set on getting basketball shoes, but I had to tell him no. There’s no point in having high-top shoes in the summer and he will outgrow them by basketball season. He finally settled on a pair that are similar to Crockett’s, though much brighter and in-your-face. The neighbors’ joked that he can direct traffic in them. I like the fact that they are black (hides all the dirt and stains), but those day-glo yellow soles are something else! Photo taken with my iphone.

30 May 2011

We spent the morning packing, having one last swim in the pool, and saying our goodbyes. We weren’t on the road long before LilCrockett conked out. He had developed some allergies over the weekend and he coughed a lot at night. The lack of sleep coupled with tons of activity made him super tired.

He woke up after a couple of hours and was in a funk (he wakes up really hard) and at about that time, we were nearing a rest area. We decided he needed a distraction, so we pulled in. A Christian motorcycle group was there passing out snacks to holiday travelers. One of the guys was even making balloon animals for the kids. LilCrockett wanted a sword and GothGirl picked a turtle. It was such a treat, especially for just-woke-from-a-nap-and-I’m-grumpy LilCrockett.

Once we got home, we unloaded the car (which took quite awhile) and then relaxed in the backyard with the neighbors. A great ending to a great weekend!

29 May 2011

GothGirl, Crockett, and I took a drive down to the river this morning. We found a turtle on a backroad and I made GothGirl pose for a picture. My brother found 2 turtles the day before along the road and he brought them back to the campground for the kids to see. We released all turtles back into the wild after checking them out.

Feeding the fish at the Bennett Springs State Park Fish Hatchery…

The cicadas were thick in Missouri. I snapped this photo of a nearly emerged nymph. They are kinda creepy, but fortunately the kids were not scared of them….both of my kids were picking them up left and right. For more information on the emergence sequence of a cicada, click HERE.

For dinner, we fixed grilled scallops (pictured), shrimp, and pork loin. So delicious and my kind of camp food.

While we were waiting for dinner to cook, the little kids did a little coloring around the picnic table.

My mom’s camping neighbors have a hummingbird feeder and tonight just before dark, there were approximately 16 hummingbirds visiting. I’ve never seen so many of them in one place before and crazily enough, they weren’t fighting. They would patiently wait for a spot to open up. I tried to get a photo but the light was low and their wings move so fast, that I wasn’t able to get one with the birds in focus. This is only a handful of the large number that were there.

After we watched them for awhile, my mom’s friends told us that they would come up to the feeder if we were close by. So, I went and put a finger underneath one of the feeder petals and after waiting a few minutes, they started to come up. Soon, there was one hovering right over my finger. It was AMAZING – you could feel the wind from their wings and I could touch the belly of one. Probably one of the most incredible nature experiences of my life! The sun was nearly down by this time, so the photo is super grainy and dark.

27 May 2011

After a 5-hour long trip in the car, we arrived at the campground in southern Missouri at about 8:30pm. Once we got there, we had to unpack and make the beds in the cabin, so there was really no time for pictures. Here are a few that I took of some wild mushroooms the next day. Now if I actually posted on the days that I take the photos, this couldn’t happen; but by the magic of back-dating posts, it can.

26 May 2011

We are going camping this weekend, so I spent the evening doing laundry, cleaning, and packing. Kind of crazy to clean before I leave but I like to come home to a clean house. If I don’t, I get pretty stressed. Who wants to walk in the door late in the day after a 3-day weekend and feel like you need to clean. No thanks. Now this strategy doesn’t always work for me as I don’t always have the extra time (I am a procrastinating packer!), but I strive for this. So happy it worked out this time.

But since I was so busy getting ready for our trip, I took zero pictures today. And I’m not even going to post some old ones. We’ll just move along to tomorrow, especially since I’m sure I will have tons of camping pictures to share.

24 May 2011

No pictures today, so I’ll share one I took yesterday at work on my iphone. One of my coworkers won a custom cake at a fundraiser and she brought it in for everyone to see since we work for a conservation agency. Everything on the cake is completely edible.

The catfish is made out of rice crispy treats and the sandbar is made out of cake. And there’s lots of fondant as well (base, hook, fins, etc.). Pretty darn cool, huh?!! It was quite a conversation piece around the office.

23 May 2011

Tonight was Middle School Orientation night and at the start of the event, the 4th graders were going to sing a song. The neighbors volunteered to watch LilCrockett so the night would be all about GothGirl. I opted to take the point and shoot camera as I wasn’t sure how good the lighting would be and if there would be many opportunities for taking photos. In hindsight, I wish I’d taken my Canon instead as the lighting was great and my point and shoot battery died after taking 2 photos. Ugh! It turns out that the kids were on stage longer than I expected too. They all had to learn how to play the recorder and so they put on a mini concert for us. Each class got to play a new song and then all 5 classes would play it together. So, the kids were on stage for a total of 11 songs (10 playing the recorder and 1 singing).

Here are some pics from my point and shoot and my iphone (which I pulled out when the camera died). You can barely see GothGirl as she is in the next to last row (wearing a turquoise shirt & wearing glasses).

And so you can enjoy their musical talents, I thought I’d post some video. A first on this blog.

Recorder Fun!

Singing Fun!

Cute, huh?!!

After the concert, we heard from the Middle School principal & teachers. Then we were released to check out the 5th grade classrooms and the rest of the school. GothGirl pretty much ditched us to pal around with her friends, but we were close on their heels and I made them pose for a picture. These girls are so excited to start Middle School in the fall. Me, I’m a little sad that they are growing up so fast.

22 May 2011

We had warm, sunny days here yesterday afternoon and today which meant that the kids were itching for some water fun. The neighbors don’t have their pool open yet, so the kids requested a little slip and slide action. Yesterday they got creative (with the help of the neighbor girls) and used a sprinkler, tarp, blow-up raft, and boogey boards.

LilCrockett

GothGirl

Then today, my neighbor purchased a cheap slip-and-slide, which they paired with a blow-up tube to make a bump in their ride. Later, they added a tarp to the end to lengthen their slide.